McMorris Rodgers on July 11. Photo: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Republicans are scrutinizing President Biden's use of the Defense Production Act to make AI developers share information with the government.
Driving the news: During a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Wednesday with administration officials, Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers said Biden's use of the DPA is inconsistent and concerning.
- She pointed to the president leveraging the emergency powers in the AI executive order, but not using it for streamlining environmental permitting for semiconductor production.
Catch up fast: The AI EO requires developers of the most powerful AI systems not yet on the market to to notify the federal government when training the model and share results of red-team safety tests before making models public.
What they're saying: The executive order's DPA provision covers AI systems that pose a risk to health and safety, the economy or security, a scope that McMorris Rodgers said is very broad and "moves us into a permission based approval process."
- Saif Khan, senior advisor for critical and emerging technologies at the Commerce Department, said the government needs to understand the capabilities of the most advanced AI models that could potentially raise national security concerns.
- "We don't see the use of the Defense Production Act as an approval process, but rather it's really just an information gathering exercise," Khan said.
The big picture: Members on both sides of the aisle aren't worried about falling behind the European Union in AI regulation.
- Instead, Congress is treading lightly so as to not get in the way of innovation and to remain competitive against China.
- And Republicans are zeroing in on Biden's use of the DPA as a potential roadblock to those goals.
- After a Senate AI insight forum focused on national security last week, Sen. Mike Rounds told reporters there are concerns within his party about the DPA being evoked.
- "You have to look at what it was designed for in the first place. We don't think he [Biden] didn't have the right intentions, but we'd like to do this with legislation."
